Saman Bakhtiyar

One major reason Mossadegh, during his premiership, was unwilling to resolve disputes with Britain was that the British insisted the Oil Company should, in some form, continue its operations in Iran. In view of this, Mossadegh turned to a no-oil economy. He had said: “The moral aspect of nationalizing oil is more important than its economic aspect.”

Paradises and Chaharbaghs are among the greatest innovations of the Iranians, with roots in the Achaemenid era, and they had a profound influence on garden design in both the East and the West. It appears that the paradises of the Achaemenids and Cyrus the Great influenced humanity’s vision of paradise itself—so much so that in the myths of various nations, paradise is depicted in the likeness of Iranian paradises. Even in the face of devastating invasions by the armies of the Caliphs and Genghis Khan’s Mongols, Iranian paradises were not destroyed; rather, in the Timurid and Safavid periods they once again flourished.